What To Do When a Customer Says “Not Yet” To Closing   We’ve all gotten a “not yet” from a prospect and it can be frustrating having that delay in closing. In this episode we’ll look at how to move from “not yet” to yes.   Jeff Shore is a salesperson at heart and has been in the industry for a number of years. He started his sales career in real estate but for the last 20 years, he’s been at Shore Consulting. Jeff works with companies large and small all around the world. He is also a published author and is getting ready to launch his 10th book. He used to look at sales from the perspective of the salesperson but now, he’s looking at how a buyer buys. Instead of reading sales books, he reads psychology books to know what’s going on in the mind during the sales process that leads to the decisions people make.    Salespeople are sales counselors because they get to the root of the problem before they try to provide any kind of solution. This is the heartbeat of sales. We understand the customers’ problems and we try to offer them the best solution.   On writing his books    As an author, Jeff understands he has to live a book before he writes it. Jeff knows it’s not just about the sale. The follow up is just as important and Jeff is passionate about learning everything he can. He wants us all to know the greatest lessons are in how to serve customers and learning how we can add value after the initial presentation. This is what Jeff’s book is about.    The inability to follow-up  Not following up comes down to two things:  I can’t do it or I won’t do it. This is both an ability and a motivation issue. If you don’t know how, find someone to help you or a resource that can teach you.  Motivation entails having the right mindset.   The challenges today  The two biggest problems in doing follow-up are that salespeople are often too slow and/or too impersonal. Speed and personalization are the superpowers that salespeople have at their disposal. The faster they serve, the more that they are able to share the message that they care. These days, people equate speed with care. If you can combine speed and personalization, you’re already 98% ahead from other salespeople who just rely on their CRM to kick out a generic email 24-hours after the initial conversation.  Getting back in touch adds value and this is the first step in building a relationship with prospects. The second step is being personal. We all get numerous emails in a week and they come in many forms. If salespeople spent any meaningful time online, they would see there is plenty of accessible information to personalize correspondence and it would make all the difference.    Jeff got an email from a person who just took a photo of himself holding a piece of paper that said, “Hi, Jeff!”  He knew then that the email was for him. He got Jeff’s attention and Jeff couldn’t deny him a reply.  They didn’t close a deal but it got a response and that is a huge part of the battle.    The need to follow-up Many salespeople are doing follow-up because of the fear of getting in trouble with their bosses. If the CRM has holes in it, then the sales reps can just blame it on the system. This isn’t enough. A sales rep has to see the importance and value behind the follow-up. Your starting point should be asking yourself how you can add value to the prospect. You need a better motivation to do the follow-up than just your boss.    Don’t get eliminated  There are two types of elimination: active elimination and the passive elimination. Active elimination is when a product or service isn’t a good fit. Passive elimination happens when you fall off from the prospects’ radar and become forgettable. The longer time you wait to do a follow-up, the longer period it will be that you go without having a conversation with them. This lack of communication destroys relationships. This has something to do with a psychological phenomenon called emotional altitude. Human beings are emotional creatures. We